Quote:
Originally Posted by HERn
I know I'm late to this discussion. I really benefitted from the complete paragraph from which this small quote was taken..."Out of all forms of Christianity it is the Orthodox Church which remained more closely tied to early Christianity." But, I must ask how early? The age of the apostles, or the age of the church fathers?
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I’d say, “the age of the apostles AND the age of the church fathers”. We believe the Church was founded on day of Pentecost, in the year 33 by Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The Orthodox Church remains unchanged in doctrine and faith since the early Church of the Apostles. That’s why it may look strange and even weird for modern people. Where is the proof of this bold claim? The New Testament, ordination of priests (all clergy in the Orthodox Church can trace their ordination through the laying on of hands to the Apostles), and the writings of the Apostolic Fathers (Polycarp, Clement, Ignatius, etc) who described the teaching, priesthood, and practices of the early Church. BTW, some of the Apostolic Fathers were disciples of the Apostles. For example, St Ignatius of Antioch was a student of the Apostle John. And St Clement of Rome was consecrated by the Apostle Peter.
From Wikipedia: "The Apostolic Fathers is a term used to describe a group of Early Christian writings produced in the late 1st century and the first half of the 2nd century. These writings, though not unpopular in Early Christianity, were ultimately not part of the New Testament once it reached its final form. Many of the writings derive from the same time period and geographical location as other works of early Christian literature that did come to be part of the final form of the New Testament, and some of the writings found among the "Apostolic Fathers" seem to have been just as highly regarded as some of the writings (that remained) in the New Testament."
The Orthodox Church teachings are based on the Bible and the union of the Church Fathers. When they all agree and it doesn't contradict the Bible, then this is the truth. It helps to keep the faith of the ancient Christians and not to subtract or add anything, like Catholics or Protestant do.
BTW, most of the teachings of the early Christians were written in Greek, not in Latin. Later when the writings were translated into Latin, certain things were neglected or lost in translation. One of these things is the nature of relationship between God and man.
I will quote Peter Berger, a Lutheran theologian:
“There are many ways of describing the distinctiveness of Orthodoxy, as against both the Roman Catholic and Protestant versions of Christianity. One way is nicely summed up in a statement by Paul Evdokimov, a lay member of the St. Serge school who did not move to America (he played a courageous role during the German occupation of France, among other things helping Jews to escape from the Nazis). Evdokimov suggests that Western Christianity sees the relationship between God and man as taking place in a courtroom - God is the judge, man is guilty, sentence must be pronounced, Christ takes the sentence upon himself, which allows God to forgive man. The entire transaction is judicial and penitential. By contrast, Eastern Christianity sees the relationship as taking place in a hospital - man is sick, sin is just part of the sickness, Christ is the victor over every part of this sickness (including death, which is the culmination of the sickness). The transaction between God and man is not judicial but therapeutic. It seems to me that this is a much more compassionate view of the human condition and its redemption.”
So the Orthodox understanding of salvation is also different from Catholic and Protestant:
“Salvation, for Orthodox Christians, is seen as deliverance from the curse of sin and death, which makes it possible for us to enter into union with God through Christ the Savior. Salvation includes a process of growth of the whole person whereby the sinner is transformed into the image and likeness of God. One is saved by faith through grace, although saving faith involves more than belief. Faith must be active and living, manifested by works of righteousness, whereby we cooperate with God to do His will. Hence, if one is “being saved,” one is on the way to one’s ultimate goal: eternal union with God and participation in the divine nature, as Saint Paul writes.”
http://oca.org/questions/scripture/h...from-the-faith
As for the history of the Orthodox Church, you may find some info here:
History of the Orthodox Church
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History...rthodox_Church
The Eastern Orthodox Churches trace their roots back to the Apostles and Jesus Christ. Apostolic succession established the seats of Patriarchy (for example see the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem). Orthodoxy reached its golden age during the high point of the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire, taken over by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the Serbian Orthodox Church before it continued to flourish in Russia after the Fall of Constantinople. Numerous autocephalous churches have been established in Eastern Europe and Slavic areas.
Four stages of development can be distinguished in the history of the Orthodox Churches. Early Christianity, which is roughly the first three centuries through the early age of Constantine the Great, constitutes the Apostolic and ancient period. The Byzantine period, beginning with the First seven Ecumenical Councils, comprises over eleven centuries from the First Council of Nicaea in 325 to the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. The Ottoman period starts, roughly, for the Greek and Balkan communities in the fifteenth century with the Fall of Constantinople, and ends about the year 1830, which marks Greek and Serbian independence from the Ottoman Empire. The last stage is the modern period.
History of the Orthodox Church
http://www.goarch.org/ourfaith/ourfaith7053
A History of the Orthodox Church: Outline
http://orthodoxinfo.com/general/history.aspx
A Timeline of Church History
http://www.antiochian.org/orthodox-church-history
BTW, my wife is still active in the LRC. As for me, I stopped attending their meetings and started to go to a small Orthodox parish in my locality. I got a few books on Orthodoxy ("Becoming Orthodox: A Journey to the Ancient Christian Faith" by Peter Gillquist, "Surprised by Christ: My Journey From Judaism to Orthodox Christianity" by James Bernstein, "Thirsting for God in a Land of Shallow Wells" by Matthew Gallatin, "The Truth of Our Faith" vol 1 by Elder Cleopa, etc.) So I am learning more about this ancient faith, and the more I learn, the more it makes sense to me. Well, I might be bias because Orthodoxy is the faith of my grandparents.